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May 12, 2009

South African President Accused of Spreading HIV

South African opposition leader Helen Zille has accused President Jacob Zuma of putting his three wives at risk for HIV, BBC News reports.

Zille told the Sowetan newspaper, “Zuma is a self-confessed womanizer with deeply sexist views, who puts all his wives at risk by having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive woman.”

According to the article, her remarks were in response to criticism that she appointed an all-male, predominantly white cabinet, making her the only woman in the Western Cape executive council she unveiled May 8.

A self-proclaimed polygamist, Zuma was acquitted of rape in 2006, when he admitted to having unprotected sex with an HIV-positive friend of the family. He affirms that since he showered after intercourse with the woman, he was not at risk for infection.

The African National Congress’s Youth League condemned Zille’s remarks as “hogwash,” adding in a statement that it was “disgusted by remarks attributed to the racist girl Helen Zille, who when failing to defend her stupid and sexist decision to appoint predominantly white males into her cabinet, attacks the president.”

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